Google Opens Personalized Results to All

Google risked drawing the ire of privacy advocates Dec. 4 by making its personalized search results available to all of its users, whether they are signed in or not. Personalized results were previously served only to users who were signed into their Google account and had opted in to let Google track their Web History, or log of search queries and results. Going forward, personalized results will be offered to users whether they are signed in or not. By hedging the privacy quotient in Web search, Google is setting itself up for some loud barking by privacy watchdogs who already feel Google takes too many liberties with users' info.

Google risked drawing the ire of privacy advocates Dec. 4 by making its
personalized search results available to all of its users, whether they are
signed in or not.
Personalized search results take into account Google users' search
queries and clicks over time and attempt to surface results the algorithm feels
will be more relevant and useful to users.

So, users who frequently search for Ruby Tuesday will likely see that
restaurant and eateries like it higher in search results because Google has
assigned a greater ranking for them based on users' activity.

It will also help disambiguate searches for the same words that have
different meanings. For example, personalized results help Google distinguish
whether a user who enters the query "apple" is talking about the
fruit or the company.
Giving users better results also boost the relevance of advertisements
Google can serve users, making personalized search results a win for both
provider and consumer.
Personalized results were previously served only to users who were signed
into their Google account and had opted in to let Google track their Web History, or log of search queries and results. Going forward,
personalized results will be offered to users whether they are signed in or
not. Users must also now opt out of personalized results.
This is how it works. Google will continue to use Web History to personalize
results for users who are signed in. Even when users are not signed in, Google
will customize their search results based on past search
information linked to a user's computer Web browser using an anonymous cookie.
Google stores up to 180 days of signed-out search activity linked to the
browser's cookie, including queries and results that are clicked.
Bryan Horling, Google software engineer, and Matthew Kulick, Google product
manager, provided this assurance in a blog post:

"It's completely separate from your Google Account and Web History
(which are only available to signed-in users). You'll know when we customize
results because a 'View customizations' link will appear on the top right of
the search results page. Clicking the link will let you see how we've customized
your results and also let you turn off this type of customization."

Users who elect not to receive personalized results while signed in must
turn off Web History and remove it from their Google account. To do that, users
must be signed into their account. They then must click the
My Account link from the Google homepage, click Edit next to "My
products" and then click Delete Web History.
Google explains how this all works in this short video. For more details, Danny Sullivan's post on Search Engine Land is the best read.
While Google is being very clear and transparent about how this all works
and how to obliterate search history entirely, it doesn't explain that the goal
is to position Google's search experience in such a way as to serve users more
relevant ads, enabling Google to make more money.
By hedging the privacy quotient in Web search, Google is setting itself up
for some loud barking by privacy watchdogs who already feel Google takes too
many liberties with users' info. For example, Google provoked more criticisms than compliments with its Google
Dashboard announcement last month, and that service was designed to give users
more control over their Google data.
It's already started. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic
Privacy Information
Center in Washington,
told the New York Times:

"The key point is that Google is now tracking users of search who have
specifically chosen not to log in to a Google account. They are obliterating
one of the few remaining privacy safeguards for Google services."

With each baby step, Google is tempting fate with agencies such as the
Department of Justice, which is increasingly scrutinizing the company's
behavior regarding its search and other Web services, such as the Google Book
Search deal.